Monday, April 2, 2012

B is for Bioinformatics!

For today's post I have chosen a subject that is very near and dear to my heart: Bioinformatics. Why is it especially important to me? Bioinformatics is what I am majoring in at University of the Sciences!

Source: http://www.dtrends.com/Figures/com_hum_mol.jpg

Bioinformatics can be described as the application of statistics and computer science to the field of molecular biology. This field of science has many objectives, but they all mainly focus on the discovery of genes and their corresponding proteins. Many believe that bioinformatics is the future of science because the world is moving towards the application of our knowledge on genetics: proteins.

With a degree in bioinformatics an individual can go into many fields such as robotics, biotechnology and pharmaceutical research. My goal is to become a genetic counselor.

Do you know how many genes a human has? Do you know why a plant has more genes than a human but a human is considered a more complex organism?

Anna - The answer is very interesting, for me at least. I'm going to post the answer tonight!

Gossip_Grl - Thanks!

Hazel - Some things in psychology are really hard. I think you have to have a certain mind for science.

Matthew - Thanks!

The Writing Goddess - You are correct! We have about 20,000 to 22,000 genes.

Suze - A genetic counselor can analyze the chance of a person getting a genetic disease. They can also do prenatal testing to tell parents the likelihood that their child is going to have a genetic disease.

I believe that I've heard humans have got aroundTwenty three thousand or so, how right does that sound?And plant genes are redundant, I mean it, it's true!They have copies of copies, more than me or youBut that's just from dabbling, I could be way off baseSo feel free to put this math major in his place

Good Lord! You are a blessing to have for those of us who have families with genetic problems. I am so happy I came across your blog. I wish you all luck as a scientist. As a parent of two children with severe autism and seizures, we have done everything from give blood repeatedly, to answer countless questionnaires,to being filmed by Stanford University in the early days of the autism epidemic.Thank you for being you.

Sky - Both your answers are correct!! Scientists now speculate that humans have somewhere around 20,000 to 22,000 genes. Plants have many more because their genome is highly repetitive! Good job!

Jean - Wow, I'm sorry to hear about the problems :( Thank you for your faith in science. I hope someday to help families like yours.

Michelle - Thanks! A genetic counselor will analyze a person's genome and give them the probability that they may develop a disease. They can also do prenatal testing and give parents the probability of their child having genetic diseases.

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I am a 21 year old college student who finds every way imaginable to procrastinate. My blog is mainly just me talking about my life, what I should be doing, what I'm actually doing, and how challenging I think life is at the moment. I dream of being a genetic counselor and am working very hard to achieve my goal!